This is the season when Kenyan artists take to social media to complain about the peanuts they receive from the Performers Rights Society of Kenya (PRISK).
Rapper, Wangechi, Kenzo Matata, Gabu, Jabidii, KRG the Don, and Nikita Kering are among a number of artists who've come out to complain over the amount they received, with the five of them receiving ksh 1,215 each as royalties.
Let's not forget this problem has been going on for quite some time. Back in 2019, artists bitterly complained about the organisation over poor royalties. It even resulted in Nonini quitting as the chairman.
Nonini lamented the fact that PRISK wanted to collect artists money solely which was obviously against the Kenya copyright board.
“Today I have officially resigned as Chairman of @priskkenya and above is my resignation letter. We have a regulator @kenyacopyrightboard who issues our licenses to collect and has set out clear conditions we collect jointly with @kamp_kenya @priskkenya & @mpakenya. When a board I chair goes against the conditions set by our regulator that means they are going against the government and I will not be a party to such,’’ read part of Nonini's resignation letter.
“CMOs should have given us the licenses that mandate us to collect money from our musicians. The regulator (stipulates) that we collect money jointly. All these organisations (have) rights as holders but my board wants to collect alone and that is illegal because that is not what the regulator wants. KECOBO instructed us to collect our license jointly, which shows that MPAKE is fully registered,’’ he added.
Senator Crystal Asige - I live on Sh50k monthly